I’m glad someone else was as bothered by that line as I was. I yelled at the tv “not true!!”
It’s funny you should use the metaphor of a cat slinking behind a shed, because that is something my husband and I have been talking about lately, this exact difference between humans and animals. My husband and I had been sick all weekend, and Sunday night we were pathetically lying on the couch watching tv, our cat lying between us, when we both realized that our usually enthusiastic cuddler was barely responding to us at all. He refused to be moved, and he would barely lift his head. He was clearly sick. My husband suggested he wasn’t feeling well and, like us, just needed to sleep it off. But I had a spidey sense, so into the carrier and to the emergency vet he went, where we discovered I was right: kitty was very sick and needed immediate intervention — if we’d waited until the morning, he probably wouldn’t have made it (don’t worry — all is well, and as of today, Tuesday, he’s still being observed at the vet but he’s expected to make a fully recovery). In talking about it after the fact, my husband admitted he was anthropomorphizing too much. He was thinking like a human, a social creature whose best tactic when they’re sick is to get care from the community. However, a cat is the opposite. For a cat to even give a hint that something if off, they must be very, very sick, as ours turned out to be. Anyway, topic of conversation in my home, relevant to your great article!
Thank you and this story is so good to highlight my point. I'm so glad kitty is going to be okay though!
My 21 year old cat died a few years ago and I'll never forget how when he got REALLY sick he started hiding from everyone. Made me panic so many times. Then he had a stoke and couldn't walk much. Eventually we knew it was time.
It was indeed a very upsetting scene. In my thinking went exactly where yours did. This kind of thinking is just the toxic product of our capitalist, free market, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, self-reliance mythos pushed onto vulnerable females.
Yes, but the anti-intellectualism, the distrust of people trained in complicated jobs, etc. There's this idea that anything "modern" is too capitalistic and therefore cannot be trusted, from a certain subset at least.
Oh, I absolutely agree. The whole thing has gotten twisted in the worst way. Like yes, the medical field is upsettingly profit motivated, that doesn’t make medical care or expertise bad. But people don’t care much for nuance anymore.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. When that line happened in the episode I had to pause it and give half of this as a rant to my friend watching it with me because it made me so mad.
I wholeheartedly agree though I push back on the inherent deadliness of childbirth for women. Not considering post 1750 medical men, intervention, and puerperal fever, the risk of dying in childbirth was no greater than the risk of dying from illness or accident. The event, of course, was time limited and inevitable. We know that the time around childbirth presents a 15% increase in morbidity. This is where survival is determined. Top causes of historical mortality were hemorrhage, eclampsia, puerperal fever, and obstructed labor from rickets/vitamin d deficiency which made vaginal birth difficult or impossible (not the "too big head" theory; babies were born 10, 11, up to 14 pounds according to one midwifes diary). Today of course we have excessive morbidity from intervention and mortality, though the predominance of deaths are postpartum from homicide, suicide, and opioid overdose - a symptom of our failing social supports systems in America. All that to say - midwives have always been there and knew, and know, when to intervene. This is why we have documentation of midwives attending thousands of births with no maternal losses. Historians suggest women survived birth 98% of the time or more. Come colonization, industrialization, and medical professionalization it was more like 94% didnt survive, which equated to thousands of women dead depending when and where. I write about this as my framework obstetric enclosure, on my Substack and my upcoming book Birthright. Yes always to a trained birth attendant which makes the difference. Freebirth and wild birth are simply not the way to reclaim sovereignty!
It's time we all take responsibility for our own health and the health of our dependents. No more handing that over to strangers while saying "mY dOcTUr [sic] is greattt!!", when in fact said whitecoat is playing golf having a laugh with his buddies about something "some bitch patient" asked him in an appointment. No, he will not remember your name or anything about you when he tells the 5 second tale 4 G&Ts in as he openly leers at the bev cart woman.
Hospitals kill mothers and babies all the time through negligence and malpractice. We love our women too much to let these creepy weirdos assault and abuse them and then charge thousands for being in the room for 10 minutes to do something a monkey could do.
I’m glad someone else was as bothered by that line as I was. I yelled at the tv “not true!!”
It’s funny you should use the metaphor of a cat slinking behind a shed, because that is something my husband and I have been talking about lately, this exact difference between humans and animals. My husband and I had been sick all weekend, and Sunday night we were pathetically lying on the couch watching tv, our cat lying between us, when we both realized that our usually enthusiastic cuddler was barely responding to us at all. He refused to be moved, and he would barely lift his head. He was clearly sick. My husband suggested he wasn’t feeling well and, like us, just needed to sleep it off. But I had a spidey sense, so into the carrier and to the emergency vet he went, where we discovered I was right: kitty was very sick and needed immediate intervention — if we’d waited until the morning, he probably wouldn’t have made it (don’t worry — all is well, and as of today, Tuesday, he’s still being observed at the vet but he’s expected to make a fully recovery). In talking about it after the fact, my husband admitted he was anthropomorphizing too much. He was thinking like a human, a social creature whose best tactic when they’re sick is to get care from the community. However, a cat is the opposite. For a cat to even give a hint that something if off, they must be very, very sick, as ours turned out to be. Anyway, topic of conversation in my home, relevant to your great article!
Thank you and this story is so good to highlight my point. I'm so glad kitty is going to be okay though!
My 21 year old cat died a few years ago and I'll never forget how when he got REALLY sick he started hiding from everyone. Made me panic so many times. Then he had a stoke and couldn't walk much. Eventually we knew it was time.
It was indeed a very upsetting scene. In my thinking went exactly where yours did. This kind of thinking is just the toxic product of our capitalist, free market, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, self-reliance mythos pushed onto vulnerable females.
Yes, but the anti-intellectualism, the distrust of people trained in complicated jobs, etc. There's this idea that anything "modern" is too capitalistic and therefore cannot be trusted, from a certain subset at least.
Too capitalistic - such supreme irony!
Collectivism is how our species has survived for 100,000 years. Working together to advance knowledge and communal well-being.
Oh, I absolutely agree. The whole thing has gotten twisted in the worst way. Like yes, the medical field is upsettingly profit motivated, that doesn’t make medical care or expertise bad. But people don’t care much for nuance anymore.
This is so good and important to talk about. I almost lost my sister because of this distorted romantic lens they have projected on birth
I'm so glad you enjoyed it. When that line happened in the episode I had to pause it and give half of this as a rant to my friend watching it with me because it made me so mad.
Thank you for calling this out! The attitude is stupid, ignorant and life threatening.
Judith and her ilk should visit an old cemetery and do the math.
I wholeheartedly agree though I push back on the inherent deadliness of childbirth for women. Not considering post 1750 medical men, intervention, and puerperal fever, the risk of dying in childbirth was no greater than the risk of dying from illness or accident. The event, of course, was time limited and inevitable. We know that the time around childbirth presents a 15% increase in morbidity. This is where survival is determined. Top causes of historical mortality were hemorrhage, eclampsia, puerperal fever, and obstructed labor from rickets/vitamin d deficiency which made vaginal birth difficult or impossible (not the "too big head" theory; babies were born 10, 11, up to 14 pounds according to one midwifes diary). Today of course we have excessive morbidity from intervention and mortality, though the predominance of deaths are postpartum from homicide, suicide, and opioid overdose - a symptom of our failing social supports systems in America. All that to say - midwives have always been there and knew, and know, when to intervene. This is why we have documentation of midwives attending thousands of births with no maternal losses. Historians suggest women survived birth 98% of the time or more. Come colonization, industrialization, and medical professionalization it was more like 94% didnt survive, which equated to thousands of women dead depending when and where. I write about this as my framework obstetric enclosure, on my Substack and my upcoming book Birthright. Yes always to a trained birth attendant which makes the difference. Freebirth and wild birth are simply not the way to reclaim sovereignty!
The antivax family from season 1 had me soooo mad
America has the highest maternal mortality rate in the 1st world my dude.
Exactly, thank you.
It's time we all take responsibility for our own health and the health of our dependents. No more handing that over to strangers while saying "mY dOcTUr [sic] is greattt!!", when in fact said whitecoat is playing golf having a laugh with his buddies about something "some bitch patient" asked him in an appointment. No, he will not remember your name or anything about you when he tells the 5 second tale 4 G&Ts in as he openly leers at the bev cart woman.
Hospitals kill mothers and babies all the time through negligence and malpractice. We love our women too much to let these creepy weirdos assault and abuse them and then charge thousands for being in the room for 10 minutes to do something a monkey could do.
Free birth is snowballing and no one can stop it.